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Iranians Pose a Real Threat to Mideast Security;No 'Shining Moment'

This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996.
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To the Editor:

Thomas L. Friedman gave far too much credit to the Arab-Israeli summit meeting in Sharm el-Sheik when he called it a "brief shining moment" (column, June 30). The only shining since the Oslo peace accords and the summit meeting has been the glow of bombs and of false hopes.

Mr. Friedman's opinion that the core understanding "made possible Israeli-Palestinian cooperation in a broad range of areas, including security" is simply not true. If anything, it is harder to secure areas and prevent the better-armed terrorists from entering Israel and then fleeing to Palestinian-controlled areas.

Israel cannot appease its neighbors at the expense of its security. This is the lesson of Israel's election and one that President Clinton, too, should realize. Israel's enemies are America's enemies. The bombing in Saudi Arabia is a further reminder of this. America should take the prerogative that the parties in any agreement have: to reassess and renegotiate if the terms have not been met.

NATHAN KRUMAN New York, June 30, 1996

A version of this letter appears in print on July 2, 1996, on Page A00014 of the National edition with the headline: Iranians Pose a Real Threat to Mideast Security;No 'Shining Moment'. Today's Paper|Subscribe